Broken
by Lovetoread75
Summary: Johnny is bullied at school. Please read and review and let me know what you think. All your reviews, follows and favorites are much appreciated.
1. Chapter 1

**Ok, I was watching The Outsiders again last night, and this is the story I thought of. Please let me know what you think in a review and most importantly enjoy :)**

The bell rang indicating the start of the class. It was gym. Johnny hated gym. He was smaller than other kids and he wasn't good at basketball, which is what the teacher forced them to do. Besides, those bullies were always there. They always pushed him around when the teacher wasn't looking or stuck a foot out so he tripped and fell. It was always those three socs - Walter, Aaron and Craig, but sometimes other kids would join in on their fun too.

The class was going ok, so far the bullies weren't able to do any of their usual tricks, but at the end of the class the teacher gave the students some free time to do whatever they wanted. Johnny went to the corner and was standing quietly by the wall since he didn't really have any friends in this class. He hardly had friends in any class, he hardly had friends.

So Johnny was standing quietly in the corner, waiting for the bell to ring, when the three socs approached him. Each of them was carrying a ball. They came closer, and the first soc threw the ball at Johnny. Johnny jumped to the left, then the second one shot the ball to the left. Johnny moved away further, covering himself with his hands, but they shot another ball, bigger this time. It reached Johnny and landed right on his stomach. He lost his balance and fell backwards, hitting his back against the wall. The three started laughing.

Johnny got up, almost ready to cry - not from the pain, but from humiliation. He looked around, hoping no one saw what happened and he noticed one boy looking at him, a shocked expression on the face. Johnny quickly looked away, ashamed, humiliated, wishing he could just disappear. He'd seen this boy before in the hallways and in his gym class, but still didn't know his name. He hoped he wouldn't tell anyone, especially any adults. That would create more problems for Johnny.

Johnny got a hold of himself, willing himself not to cry. He went into the locker room to change. He made sure to go in the very corner, where no one was looking, and nobody could see his bruises and scratch marks from the beatings he got at home. He put his cap on backwards. He liked wearing it like that. It was his favorite cap too.

Johnny was sitting on the bench, tying his shoelaces when the three approached him. One stood behind, the other one in front, and the third one on the side. The bullies were much bigger than Johnny, their figures towering over him.

The one standing behind knocked Johnny's cap off, the one standing in front grabbed it. Johnny tried to reach for it, but the soc stretched his arm up, holding the cap.

"Fetch," he said laughing. Johnny tried again, but the other soc pushed him from behind and right into the one that was standing in front, who punched him right in the eye hard, and then in turn pushed him back. Things like this were going on every day, and Johnny hated his life.

"C'mon," one of them finally said to his friends, "the bell's going to ring, let's go." The soc holding Johnny's cap threw it all the way to the exit, and then the three proceeded to leave.

Johnny got up and went to get his cap. In the corner of his eye he saw the same boy looking. Johnny sighed, picked up his cap, shook the dirt off of it and put it on. Then he trudged to his next class. Thankfully the bullies weren't in his next class.

After class Johnny was walking down the hallway, when the three bullies were passing by, walking in the opposite direction. As they reached Johnny, one of the socs made sure to bump him with his shoulder. Then the soc made a face – "Watch where you're going, grease," he said through clenched teeth and kept walking. Johnny just turned around and gave a long stare after them. His look was full of despair and hopelessness. Lifting his eyes up he noticed one of the classroom doors was opened and the boy from the gym class was standing in the doorway and looking at Johnny. He must've seen what the bullies did and said. The boy quickly looked away when he caught Johnny's gaze.

The next day Johnny was in the bathroom washing his hands, his backpack over his shoulders, when the three bullies walked in. Johnny felt a pang in his stomach, knowing what was coming. The three surrounded him. One grabbed his backpack, another his cap. Johnny reached out to get the backpack back, but the soc laughed in his face. He proceeded to unzip the backpack, then shook it so all the contents fell out onto the dirty floor – all Johnny's notebooks and books, his ruler and pens and pencils. The three started laughing and stepping on Johnny's notebooks and books, leaving their dirty footprints on Johnny's stuff.

Then one soc picked up a notebook and tore it apart. Then finally they threw the empty backpack on top of all the other stuff and took turns stepping on it too. They were laughing the whole time. Johnny felt so low and so humiliated, like all his pride and all his dignity was taken away from him. He felt like he couldn't take it anymore. Like between his home life and this he was going through hell.

Johnny didn't want to give them the satisfaction, but he had to pick up his stuff before they completely ruined it. He kneeled down and started picking up his stuff, trying desperately to shake the dirt off of his notebooks an books, while the socs continued stepping on it and whooping. Johnny looked at the notebook that was torn apart. Here went the homework that he spent two hours on last night. The teacher already thought that he was dumb.

Johnny was picking up his stuff, but when he looked up, he saw that the soc holding his cap was going into the stall. Johnny sprinted up and jumped on him, trying to get the cap back, but the other two blocked his way, and the first one went into the stall and dropped the cap into the toilet. Johnny's heart fell. That was his favorite cap, it was ruined now. Johnny felt so low, and he felt hot tears well up in his eyes.

The three kept laughing, and one punched Johnny in the face, around the mouth so his lip started to bleed. Then the other one punched him in the stomach and then pushed him. Johnny stepped a few steps back and fell on the floor, on his side. He felt like this was it, like there was no light at the end of the tunnel.

So, Johnny was just lying there next to the scattered notebooks and books.

"I think he's gonna cry," one of the socs said laughing. Johnny covered his face with his palms, but he wasn't crying. He just couldn't look at his tormenters, couldn't face the world at the moment. One soc came up to him and kicked him with his foot. Johnny didn't even let a sound out, just pressed his palms harder into his face.

Finally, Johnny heard their voices get more distant, so he knew they were leaving. The bullies left, but Johnny just kept lying on the floor covering his face with his palms. He felt completely defeated, humiliated and destroyed. He couldn't find the strength to get up, find the strength to go on. He felt like he didn't even care anymore, like it was over. What did he ever do to deserve this, he thought. He never hurt anyone, never badmouthed anyone. All he did was mind his business, but that seemed to be the problem. Those who badmouthed others and acted mean didn't get bullied, but he did.

Suddenly Johnny felt someone shaking his shoulder. "Hey, what happened? Are you ok?" The voice said.

"Leave me alone, just leave me alone," Johnny replied, pressing his palms into his face even more. All he felt was shame and he wished desperately that whoever it was wasn't there.

"C'mon," the voice said, "you can't be just lying here like this." Then Johnny felt someone take his hand gently, and pull it away from his face. Johnny opened his eyes, one of which was badly swollen from the punch he got the other day. He recognized the boy from his gym class.

"C'mon, I'll help you up," the boy said, getting up and stretching his arm for Johnny to grab. Johnny ignored it, but got onto his knees and started to pick up the rest of his stuff. The boy kneeled down too and started helping Johnny.

"Here," he gave the notebook and a ruler to Johnny.

"Your lip is bleeding," the boy said next, giving Johnny a tissue. Johnny took it reluctantly, and wiped his lip.

"By the way, I'm Sodapop, I'm in your gym class." The boy said. Johnny gave him a suspicious look. He thought the boy was making fun of him, making up such a strange name.

"Right," Soda guessed what Johnny was thinking so he smiled and said, "It's my real name. I guess my dad had a sense of humor to give me a name like that. I have a brother whose name is Ponyboy. What's your name?" Johnny was still suspicious, but considering that the boy was helping him out, he thought he was telling the truth.

"Johnny," he said barely audible.

"I saw those three jerks throwing balls at you in gym the other day, are they the ones that did this?"

"You can't tell anyone," Johnny said quickly – fear in his voice.

Soda frowned, "I won't tell," he tried to assure him.

"I'm ok, really," Johnny zipped up his backpack, put it over the shoulders, slouching, not bothering to get his cap, which was ruined. Then he left, leaving startled Sodapop behind.

A couple of days passed, but for Johnny each day was the same as the other. During the day he was bullied by the socs and at night he was yelled at and beaten by his parents. It seemed that every day the bullies came up with more ways to humiliate him. They attacked him in the cafeteria, in the locker room and before the classes they had together.

One time Johnny was about to sit down, when the bully snuck up behind him and pulled his chair away. Johnny landed on the floor, and it really hurt, especially since he had bruises there from the belt he got at home the night before. Apparently everybody thought it was funny, because everybody laughed.

Johnny was standing by his locker, getting the books for his next class when a strong arm appeared above his head – it was Walter. "Are you still here grease?" He said through clenched teeth. Without another word he turned Johnny around and pressed him hard against the locker while his friends started punching him. One punched in the mouth, the other in the stomach, which hurt and then pressed Johnny into the locker. Johnny controlled himself not to scream. Then one of them punched him into the nose and the already black eye.

Then Walter shoved him forward, then pushed him and Johnny fell. Walter sat on his stomach slugging him in the face. "So do you live in a trailer?" He laughed still slugging Johnny in the face. "I bet your daddy is a drunk." He added.

"He should just kill himself," the other soc laughed too.

"Yeah, you should just kill yourself, do everyone a favor. I bet nobody would care if you do. I bet your own mother wouldn't give a shit." That really hurt harder than any physical pain could hurt. They were right Johnny thought. Nobody would care. His parents hated his guts. He stopped trying to struggle with Walter. He felt like there was no point – they were right – his existence was useless and his life meant nothing.

There were students passing down the hallway, but no one tried to help Johnny. Some stopped and watched for a little while, others just walked by. Johnny hoped that none of the teachers would pass by.

And, of course, it just so happened that Soda was passing by. His first reaction was that it was none of his business, but he was really appalled by what he saw. He stepped forward trying to get Walter to let go but the other two grabbed him and pulled him away. Soda got out of their grip and got a hold of one of them and started hitting him hard. He punched him in the stomach and on the sides, then he grabbed his shoulder with one hand and delivered blows in his stomach with the other hand. The other one tried to pull Soda off, but Soda was stronger. He beat that soc real good.

Then the second soc tried to pull Soda back again. Soda let go of the first one, turned around and pushed the second one so hard so he stepped back and fell, while Walter was still sitting on Johnny's stomach punching him. Soda was going to go back to trying to pull Walter off of Johnny, when they saw two male teachers approaching them fast. Somebody must've gotten some sense and called the teachers. The socs stopped right away, and walked towards the ext like nothing happened.

Soda quickly stretched his arm for Johnny to grab, and this time he did, and Soda quickly pulled him up before the teachers approached them.

"What happened boys?" One of the teachers asked, "we were told there's a fight."

"No, we are ok Mr. Simpson," Soda replied, while Johnny turned away so the teachers wouldn't see his black eye and busted lip.

"Are you sure you are ok?" The other teacher asked.

"Yes, we are ok." Soda assured him, "we're fine."

"Alright then." Mr. Simpson said, and so the teachers walked away.

It was only Johnny and Soda in the hallway, and an awkward silence fell between them.

"Are you alright? Can you walk?" Soda finally asked. Johnny didn't answer his question – "How come you helped?" he said his voice so low and raspy that Soda could hardly hear him.

"I dunno, I just did. And besides, I have my own score with the socs that I keep, and that includes those three bastards."

"Well, thanks," Johnny almost whispered, "but next time please don't get mixed up in it, they're only going to get me worse next time." Soda didn't like the sound of that – like there was inevitably a next time, like this was just a part of Johnny's life, and he expected the beatings and humiliation to continue.

"So those guys are really onto you aren't they?" Soda said. Johnny looked away, ashamed, but nodded slightly. Soda was thoughtful for a moment. "What if there isn't next time?" He said after a pause.

"What do you mean?" Johnny gave Soda a puzzled look.

"What if I have you meet my friends. Those three find out you hang out with us, they'll leave you alone for sure. We beat the shit outta socs plenty of times." Johnny was silent. He was just standing there, leaning against the wall, staring into space, saying nothing.

"Don't tell me you don't think it's a good idea." Soda said since Johnny was silent.

"Are they… I mean your friends, are they gonna be ok with that?" He sounded unsure. He hated meeting new people.

"They'll be fine with it," Soda said.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I am. And we already have one thing in common."

"What's that?"

"We hate socs. Meet me at three by the exit," Soda said before walking away. He started walking then turned around and looked at Johnny – "You'll be there, right?" Johnny was silent.

"Right?" Soda insisted.

"Ok," Johnny finally said quietly. He wasn't sure if it was a good idea, or if Soda's friends would accept him, but he thought he had nothing to lose.

At three Johnny was waiting outside by the door. Soda was running late, and Johnny thought that maybe Soda had forgotten about him, and was about to leave when he felt someone push him from behind. He tripped and fell face down. He turned onto his back and was trying to get up, when one of the socs pressed his arm into his chest pushing him back down. "Stay down pal." Walter laughed. Johnny managed to get up. Then the other soc pulled his backpack from his shoulders and threw it down the stairs. Johnny was about to go get it when one of the socs pushed him down. He fell and rolled down the stairs. Nevertheless, he got up and grabbed his backpack. The three surrounded him again.

"What's dirt like you doing here? You are dumber than a donkey. All the teachers know that, everybody knows that you are a dumb shit." The soc yelled. That really stung. They were right Johnny thought. He had no business being here. He thought he was dumb and he would never be the same as other kids. He just stood there, the backpack fell on the ground, and he was not bothering to pick it up. He was just staring at his tormentors. He felt like he was broken and nobody would ever be able to fix him.

"Boo!" one soc said, taking a step forward and waving his hand in Johnny's face, then laughing hysterically. Then the other soc pushed Johnny backwards into the hands of another one. They were standing really close and kept pushing Johnny back and forth laughing.

So they kept pushing Johnny back and forth when Soda, Steve and Two-Bit got out. Soda saw what was going on right away. "Hey, that's the kid I was telling you about," he said to Steve and Two-Bit, "feel like doing some damage control?"

"Beat the socs' heads in – any time." Steve replied.

"Count me in," Two-Bit said. He maybe scatterbrained, but he was a good fighter.

Soda approached one of the socs from behind and tapped him on the shoulder – "Hey do you have a cigarette?" he asked. The soc turned around, and was going to say something nasty when Soda swung his arm and delivered a huge blow right into the soc's face. The soc tried to punch Soda in the shoulder, but Soda blocked it.

"It's you again," the soc yelled, "Why don't you mind your business?"

"It is my business. Why don't you fight someone your own size and not three on one?" Soda yelled back.

At this moment Steve and Two-Bit attacked the other two socs.

"You fucking piece of shit," Steve cursed, throwing his entire body against the soc, while Two-Bit was punching the third soc in the stomach.

Johnny was standing on the side. He got his backpack and was holding it in one hand, silent tears rolling down his face. It wasn't so much from the physical pain as it was what they said. How they belittled him, and the worst part was that they were right.

Steve was really beating his soc. He got him on the ground, and was kicking him with his feet. Soda got his soc on the ground too, and was slugging his face. "From now on you touch him you deal with me," Soda yelled as he was punching the soc, "understood?" The soc was silent. Soda slugged harder, "I can't hear you," he said, "understood? Say it." "Understood," the soc said in a low voice.

"Louder," Soda demanded.

"Understood," the soc repeated louder.

"You better think twice before touching him again. If you think this was bad you ain't seen nothing yet."

Finally Soda stopped – "I think they got the message," he said.

"Hey didya get the message?" Steve asked sarcastically while still kicking his soc.

"Yeah," the soc moaned.

"Now beat it outta here before I change my mind." Soda yelled. The socs got up quickly, and without another word left, not even lifting their eyes to look up at Johnny.

Johnny was wiping away his tears with his free hand, smudging blood all over his face, silently cursing himself for crying. Soda, Steve and Two Bit came up to him. "Hey Johnny," Soda said, "Sorry I was a little late, are you hurt real bad?"

"No, 'm alright," Johnny lied as he stopped crying.

"This is Steve and this is Two-Bit." Soda said. Steve held out his hand and Johnny shook it. He was a little intimidated by Steve's big muscles, but he said "Thank you," nevertheless.

"Don't mention it. It was fun." Steve replied. Then Johnny shook Two-Bit's hand.

"Don't ya worry those bastards aren't gonna touch you again," Steve said.

"That's right," Soda added, "us greasers have to stick together. From now on you are part of the gang."

"The gang?" Johnny asked confused.

"Yeah," Soda said, "there are six of us. You'll meet the other three later."

"Yeah, you'll be the lucky seven," Two-Bit chuckled.

"From now on you stick with us, ok?" Soda added.

"Ok," Johnny said quietly. He was a little intimidated by Steve and Two-Bit, but he was really overwhelmed by what just happened. He couldn't believe it. Someone took notice of him and wanted to help, somebody cared enough to fight for him. Somebody cared, somebody really cared.

"C'mon," Two-Bit said, "I'll drive us to the Curtis so you can meet the rest of the gang."


	2. Chapter 2

**Here is another chappie, hope you like it and please let me know what you think.**

They got into Two-Bit's car. Johnny felt awkward during the ride. He was glad that he was asked to hang out with these guys, but so far he only liked Soda and was intimidated by Steve and Two-Bit, and besides he wasn't used to being the center of attention.

Two-Bit was telling some story about him and Kathy, who Johnny figured, was his girlfriend. Nobody seemed particularly interested in the story though.

Soon enough they pulled up by a small house. Johnny took notice that the house wasn't in such a good condition – there was chipped paint everywhere, but it wasn't as bad as his house. He still felt apprehensive of meeting more new people.

They got out of the car, and Two-Bit went right into the house without knocking, and slamming the door.

"C'mon," Soda motioned for Johnny to come in. Johnny did, and stopped awkwardly by the door. He saw a really tall and muscular guy walk out of the kitchen and stop by the door surprised to see him. The tall guy looked at Soda, question in his eyes.

"Hey Dare," Soda said, "This is Johnny. Socs were bothering him so me and Steve took care of it. We thought us greasers need to stick together so we told him he can be part of the gang." Johnny was just standing quietly by the door.

"Does he speak?" Darry chuckled, while Johnny's face turned slightly red.

"I'm only kidding," Darry said seeing Johnny's reaction. "I am Darryl, but you can call me Darry." He held out his hand and Johnny shook it.

At this moment another boy walked into the room. Johnny remembered seeing him in the hallways at school sometimes.

"What's going on?" the boy asked. This boy was much closer to Johnny's size.

"Hi Pony," Soda said, "We got us a new gang member. This is Johnny. Socs were onto him , but me, Steve and Two-Bit, we took care of it. This is my brother Ponyboy. I told you about him." Soda added.

"Hi," Johnny said quietly.

"Hi," Pony replied, "I've seen you around school, nice meeting you."

Johnny was about to say something, when the door opened, and Dallas walked in. That made Johnny scared. He knew who Dallas Winston was. Everybody knew who Dallas Winston was. Was he a part of this gang, Johnny thought. This was serious then if even Dallas Winston was a part of it. Johnny felt plain scared of him.

"Who's this?" Dallas asked right away, pointing at Johnny.

"This is Johnny. Socs were bullying him," Soda repeated his story for the third time, "but me, Steve and Two-Bit beat the crap outta them. Johnny is gonna be part of the gang." Dallas looked at Johnny for a few moments, sizing him up. "Man you're scrawny," he said, "doesn't your mother feed you?" He didn't know how close to the truth that statement was. Johnny looked down, and his face turned red again.

"Dontya worry kid," Dallas added, "you hang out with us no soc will come within five miles of you."

"Do you pay football?" Soda asked, trying to make Johnny more comfortable and trying to put him at ease.

"A little," Johnny replied.

"Let's go then." They went out, and spent the next two hours playing football. Johnny was on Dally's team and he tried his very best to play decently. At the end their team won. "You play ok for a little scrawny kid." Dallas said to Johnny on the way back. Johnny felt himself relax a little and even felt proud – it's not every day that someone like Dallas Winston tells you that you are a good football player.

Over the next few days Johnny started getting used to hanging out with the gang. He liked Two-Bit and Steve ok now. At school he met up with them and Pony and they would talk and smoke outside of the building. Sometimes those three socs would pass them by, and Johnny saw in the corner of his eye that they were looking at him, but didn't dare to say or do anything nasty.

Johnny really liked hanging out with his new friends and they seemed to like him too. He felt especially drawn to Ponyboy. It seemed like they had a lot in common. It was funny though how sometimes they would get to Curtis after school, and everyone would just blast the music loud and watch TV, but Pony would disappear to his room with a book, and when he was reading he was lost to the world.

So Johnny developed good friendships with the gang, but one of his main fears was that they'd find out about his home life. He thought that if they found out about the beatings he got at home they'd stop being friends with him for sure. When he got a beating he tried to make sure he didn't get hit in the face or on the head, which was hard to do since his father often aimed for those areas, but Johnny managed to turn quickly and make sure that the blow would hit him in the hand or stomach instead. He covered his bruises with the long sleeves of his jean jacket, and tried to make sure that his shirt didn't get lifted up when they played football revealing all the marks from the belt on his back.

One night Johnny's dad got especially nasty and hit Johnny hard in the face. He had a swollen black eye that he couldn't even open after this and a nasty black and blue bruise on his temple. To avoid being beaten even more Johnny took off to the lot. It was around eight o'clock, and Johnny was smoking and trying to calm down.

In the meantime it was one night when nobody made dinner at the Curtis, and they sent Darry to pick up some food from the Dairy Queen. So Darry got the food and was driving by the lot when he noticed Johnny's lonely figure in the dark. He drove up closer, and was going to ask Johnny what he was doing there all by himself at this hour, when the light from his headlights illuminated Johnny's face. What the hell, Darry thought. He stuck his head out. "Hey Johnny," he yelled. Johnny looked up and he looked like a trapped animal just staring at Darry who looked dead serious.

"What a hell happened?" Darry asked, without beating around the bush," who did this to you?" Johnny couldn't think of what to say so he just said "oh, don't worry about it, I'm fine."

"The hell you are." Darry replied. He got out f the truck and walked up to Johnny. "What happened? What are you doing here all by yourself at this hour anyway?" "It's nothing," Johnny tensed up, "I fell down the stairs." Darry gave Johnny one stern look that said he wasn't buying it. "I want to know now who the hell did this to you." He repeated. Johnny gave him a long, pained look.

Darry was going to say something, but stopped in a sudden realization. "Did someone… at your house do that?" Johnny was silent.

"Johnny?" Darry prompted.

"My old man…" Johnny said, trailing off.

"What?" Darry asked since he couldn't hear what Johnny said.

"My old man did this." Johnny repeated bitterly.

"Oh, Johnny," Darry said, "why are you hanging around here, why didn't you come to our house?" Silence again. Then Johnny looked down and almost whispered "I thought that if you found out you wouldn't hang out with me no more." Johnny's voice went into a sudden higher note just a hint that he was starting to cry. He thought he looked pathetic so he turned away from Darry's gaze.

"Why would you think that?" Darry said. "You are one of us now, we don't care about stuff like that. Where else are you hurt?"

"My back." Johnny croaked.

"C'mon, get in the truck, we need to clean those wound s 'fore they get infected." Darry wanted to comfort Johnny somehow, but he wasn't good at the feelings stuff so he just kept quiet waiting for Johnny to hesitantly climb into the truck.

"Are you hungry? I got food." Darry asked. Johnny hadn't eaten the whole day, but he was ashamed to say that he was hungry. Darry tossed him one of the bags with food anyway – "Cheeseburger and fries." he said. Johnny didn't want to seem too eager so he made sure to take his time taking the food out of the bag, but then he couldn't control himself and downed that cheeseburger in seconds, which didn't go unnoticed by Darry.

Finally they reached the house, and Darry walked in first. "Hey Pony," he called out, "get the first aid kit." Pony emerged from his room – "what's wrong?" he asked. Then his gaze stopped on Johnny's face. "Hey, what happened?" he asked, clearly concerned, "who did this to you?"

"I'll explain later," Darry said, saving Johnny an embarrassing explanation, "get the first aid kit."

"What's going on?" Soda walked into the room.

"Johnny got hurt, I'm going to clean his wounds." Darry replied.

"What happened?" Soda asked.

"I'll explain later." Darry replied.

"It's ok," Johnny said realizing that there was no point trying to hide it anymore since Darry would tell them anyway, "It's my old man. He's always hitting me and beating me with the belt." He hung his head after he said that.

"Why didn't you say something?" Pony, who was now back in the room, asked.

"I thought…" Johnny hesitated for a moment, "that if you found out you wouldn't want to hang out with me no more," he said simply.

"I found him at the lot," Darry said. "You know Johnny," he added, "You don't have to hide out at the lot. You can come straight to our house. Anyway, let's get this over with."

Darry settled Johnny on the kitchen counter and got some rubbing alcohol on the cotton swab and carefully pressed it around Johnny's eye, making sure none got in the eye. Johnny moaned a little as the cotton swab made contact with the skin.

"Now your back," Darry said, taking another cotton swab. "I'm just going to lift up your shirt is that ok?"He asked. Johnny nodded slightly. Darry lifted up Johnny's shirt and looked away. It was a bloody mess. The sight of that made him sick. Pony, who caught a glimpse of it, was looking away too. This wasn't going to be done with a cotton swab. Darry got a slightly wet towel and started cleaning the blood. Johnny bit his lower lip and slouched, his whole body shaking. After he cleaned the blood Darry got the cotton swab with rubbing alcohol again. Johnny flinched as the alcohol made contact directly with the wound. "Sorry," he said trying to sit up straight.

"Almost done, Johnny." Darry assured him.

"Then I got this," – Johnny lifted his shirt in the front, revealing a nasty gash on his stomach. It was all red with the dried up blood marks on the outside.

"Oh Johnny, how did **that** happen?"

"Beer bottle," Johnny replied in a scratchy voice.

"It's gonna need stitches," Darry said, "but I'll clean it up first." He cleaned it up with rubbing alcohol like he did the other wounds, and then started to stitch it up. Johnny leaned on the wall and was paler than a sheet. He made a fist, and his fingernails were poking deeply into his skin.

After they were finally done, food forgotten, Darry got a pillow and a blanket for Johnny. "You can't go back there, you are staying the night," he said. Johnny plopped on the couch next to the pillow, and was just sitting there staring into space, a pained expression on his face. He only noticed that Ponyboy was sitting next to him when Pony threw an arm around his shoulder. "I'm sorry man," he said. "I'm sorry that this is happening to you. But you should know we always got your back. We aren't gonna stop hanging out with you just 'cause of this. Promise you'll always go to us when you think your dad's mad or when. ..," he paused, "when it happens." Johnny was silent and was still staring into space. "Promise," Pony repeated.

"Ok, I promise," Johnny finally said in a really quiet voice and then added, "thanks." At this moment Darry walked into the room.

"Why are you two not asleep yet? Go to sleep," he said.

"Ok, ok," Pony replied, getting up from the couch. "If you need anything, Johnny just wake me up," he said before going into his room.


End file.
